Gold hit a near two-month peak on Wednesday, after North Korea said it is considering an attack on the US Pacific territory of Guam and US president Donald Trump boasted of the strength of the American nuclear arsenal. The tensions rattled global markets, sending investors out of equities and into the safety of the Swiss franc and government debt. The VIX "fear gauge" of expected volatility on the S&P 500 hit a one-month high.
"The market hates uncertainty and that's certainly what we have now," said Ole Hansen, head of commodity strategy at Saxo Bank. "But looking ahead, unless we start to see a conflict break out or a major stock market correction, (gold) is capped at 1,295, (although) the upside at the moment is the favoured direction," Hansen added.
Spot gold had risen 1 percent to $1,272.17 per ounce by 1410 GMT, having earlier hit its highest since mid-June at 1275.59. US gold futures for December delivery gained 1.2 percent to $1,277.9 per ounce. Gold hit a two-week low on Tuesday after US jobs data came in better than expected and the dollar turned positive, while investors awaited US inflation figures later this week for further clues about the pace of interest rate rises.
A strong dollar makes dollar-priced gold costlier for non-US investors, while rising interest rates increase the opportunity cost of holding non-yielding bullion. "We've had some competing forces play out over the past 12 hours - the US dollar was stronger off economic data, but that was quickly reversed with President Trump's comments about North Korea," ANZ analyst Daniel Hynes said.
"I think (the North Korea situation) is going to continue to provide a little bit of support, but not enough to push prices significantly higher from here," Hynes added. The dollar rose versus a basket of currencies Wednesday but was down 1 percent against the Swiss franc, a traditional safe haven. "We believe continued sabre-rattling ... could take gold prices higher still," said Nitesh Shah, director at ETF Securities. "There is genuine concern, hence the fall in the dollar, (but) as ever with Trump, it's unclear how quickly the rest of the US machinery will calm him, so rises are not yet huge." Platinum gained 1.1 percent to $977.50 per ounce, having hit its highest since April at $980.60. Silver rose 2.4 percent at $16.82 per ounce, while palladium fell 1 percent to $890.95.
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